BNO News, April 23, 2012

Flash floods in Afghanistan kill 16, destroy 800 houses

An Afghan man stands near his house which was destroyed by an early morning flash flood on the outskirts of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 31, 2009. Four people were killed, seven were wounded and one missing after heavy rains caused a flood in Jalalabad, police official said. (Photo: Rahmat Gul / AP)

At least sixteen people were killed on Sunday as a result of severe flash floods in northern and eastern Afghanistan, local authorities said on Monday. As many as 800 houses are believed to have been destroyed.

The flash floods occurred on Sunday and mostly affected the districts of Kushandi and Shulgara, located in the northern province of Balkh, where eleven and four people were killed respectively. Deputy Provincial Council chief Ghulam Abbas Ikhalaqi confirmed the number of deaths, according to the Pajhwok Afghan News agency.

The provincial official said an estimated 700 houses were destroyed in Kushandi and Shulgara districts while another 80 were washed away in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which serves as the capital of Balkh province. Several other structures and a large number of acre (hectares) of farmland were also damaged. At least 60 shops were destroyed in the district town of Shulgara.

Also on Sunday, flash floods killed at least one person and washed away more than 300 houses in several villages in the Gilan district of Ghazni Province, which is located in eastern Afghanistan. Four others are believed to be missing in the village of Zabit, where flash floods damaged dozens of houses.

Regional chief Rahmatullah of the Afghanistan Natural Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA) said the agency has already deployed a team to the areas involved to review the damages.